Our Victory

From: Justin Lena, Chair, Pennington County Democratic Party

My fellow Pennington County Democrats,

We won.

The results are clear.

Across the nation, in South Dakota, and here in Pennington county, Democrats made political gains that few people could have predicted a year ago.

The United States House of Representatives and Senate are in the hands of our Party. And contrary to Republican rhetoric, Democrats have a long and proud history of governing our nation well. There is much to be straightened out on the national scene, and our party is willing and able to do it. Our state did our part in this effort by re-electing the very competent and popular Congresswoman Herseth. She is well deserving our support and sincere congratulations on her victory.

Across South Dakota, Democrats made respectable gains. Though some results have yet to be finalized, it appears that Democrats gained a total of six legislative seats. The gain of five senate seats is especially significant. The entire slate of 89 Democratic candidates unified behind the Common Ground plan, which is a pledge to voters to change the priorities in Pierre from divisive social politics to the issues that affect all South Dakotans.

Western South Dakota, which historically has been safe territory for Republicans, delivered two of those Senate seats. Our own PenDem Tom Katus from District 32, convincingly defeated the formidable Ellie Schwiesow. That victory, along side the defeat of Referred Law 6, sent a strong message to the ultra-conservatives that in no way do they speak for the "vast majority" of South Dakotans as they have repeatedly claimed.

Other races in Pennington County were very close. Paula Long Fox came within three percentage points of defeating the well funded incumbent Republican Mike Buckingham. Still other contests were lost only by a few hundred votes which demonstrates real vulnerabilities in the Republican Party. Clearly, Democrats are gaining ground.

Of course we all wish we had more to tally in the victory column. And we had some disappointments. However, Jack Billion and Eric Abrahamson ran a very positive and respectable campaign of sound issues and ideas. They worked hard, as did all of our candidates in the Black Hills. Win or lose, we can hold our heads high, knowing that we are on the upswing.

This year Democrats were successful in changing the content and tone of the political conversation. We turned the tables on the other Party and got out in front. We made the news more than read the news. There is no doubt that Democrats in Pennington County were the leaders in the political dialogue. One only has to look at the shift in the rhetoric of our opponents. For example, health care was no where in their agenda until we put it in ours. The same can be said about campaign finance reform.

We have the right ideas and the right ideals. And we are better organized than we have been in years.

But much work needs to be done to build on our progress.

We must be willing to support our new Democratic Senator Tom Katus when he goes to Pierre. We must keep our agenda in the forefront. We need to press the Republican legislators on their campaign promises.

But most of all, we need to do the hard work of improving the grassroots of our Party. In the wake of our successes across the nation, Howard Dean insisted that victories in 2008 will be won in 2007. So please, as we move forward, lend a hand to the Party in the off year of 2007. Let's do the necessary work to organize ourselves long before we get so busy in the campaign year.

The experience we gained this year will guide us for the next. I'm looking forward to working with you to bring more success to the South Dakota Democratic Party. And thank you again to all of the hard working candidates and volunteers who supported them.

Justin Lena
Pennington County Chair